Hi all, I remember a while back someone asked a question about cleaning their house and someone else posted an extensive (and impressive) multi-tabbed excel spreadsheet with a schedule they follow for cleaning their house including tasks which are done monthly, quarterly and semi-annually. I grabbed it at the time and saved it *somewhere* but I can't find it! We have had a person cleaning our house bi-weekly now for a couple of years. However I recently started working from home 3 days per week and therefore am saving about 9 hours a week in commuting time so I can't really justify the expense of a cleaner with the "I don't have time" excuse anymore!

I am hoping the person who posted the spreadsheet will see this message and repost it? If not, any general tips on keeping up w/cleaning? Do you clean the whole house at once or break it up into a couple tasks a day to make it more manageable? We have a 4 bed, 1.75 bath house that is around 2200 square feet. Not huge but it would probably take me 3-4 hours of straight cleaning from top to bottom (I think?). Thanks in advance!!

As a SAH mom of twins I can honestly say there is NO 3-4 hour period for cleaning. So I do little things all the time to try and keep up. I try and keep the kitchen clean all the time - wiping down the stove and counters every night when I clean up after dinner. I vacuum when my kids are at preschool. Same with cleaning bathrooms. Try and keep them neat and clean once a week. I often wipe down the counters or tub with a towel that's going in the wash anyway - this works especially well with the glass shower door to keep it from getting spotty.

I do have a cleaning lady team - the two of them come every other week for 2 hours and do a top to bottom of the house. Thank heavens because it means less washing of floors after my twins have gone to bed.

Otherwise, I recommend starting at the top and working down. Dust and then vacuum/swiffer the top floor and then work down. Then do the bathrooms and kitchen from top to bottom. If you don't have time to do the house in 1 shot, do the dusting and vacuuming one week and the kitchens and baths the next. Run the laundry while you are doing the cleaning. By the time you are done cleaning, the sheets will be ready to go back on the beds. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips! It has been about 4 weeks since the last time our cleaning people came and the house is getting a little ridiculous at this stage. I do the same type of maintanence like wiping down the stove and table after dinner or the counters if things are starting to stick to them(!) but that has been about it. Luckily my lovely husband does ALL the laundry (I am starting to sound really lazy but he started doing it after I kept forgetting to put it in the dryer and it got musty). So I ended up googling "house cleaning template" or something like that and found a really good one that I was able to adapt to our house/needs very easily.

It is all the way at the bottom of the page. You can open it in excel so that you can easily update it. My first "Monday" is tomorrow. I figure the small tasks can easily be done each day during the time I would have been commuting.

MissLily - I can't imagine you have any "free" time at all! And Alf - is there any worse job that putting sheets on a bed?!?!? Esp if you have a duvet cover. Hate those! :) Thanks again!

Clean houses and toddlers don't go hand in hand. I used to be organized and have a clean house. Now as a working Mom, I had to reprioritize my time so things get 1/2 cleaned constantly. DD wakes up, diaper leaked, laundry started, breakfast served, time for bath, no time to clean up breakfast because DD is covered in yogurt and you don't want to have to clean up everything below 3 feet. By this time you forgot that the wash was in the machine. You remember just as DD emptied out her entire toy box and was somehow able to find the Cheerios and empty them on the rug. Get dustbuster only to realize that yogurt is still out. And now it's time to go to work. No matter how much I plan, it still gets ahead of me!

I don't get it. You really need an app or spreadsheet to clean your house? Sounds to me like you needed to be taught basic life skills a long time ago. Clean after you cook, wipe up after you eat. Clothes go in the dryer after the washer.

I'm not trying to insult, but it seems that you're overcomplicating a very basic part of daily life.

Ah, spoken by someone who does not clean [or assist in the cleaning of the house], or else who does not have high standards for clean. :-) Yes, you can keep a tidy home by picking up after yourself, but if you want a truly clean home you need a plan. Then again, I have a spread sheet by aisle that I use for grocery shopping, and I swear my every other week cleaning lady saved my marriage. DH, while tidier than most men I know, just does not get the why it is important to make the bed [w/ corners properly tucked, and neatening the blankets does not count] daily, to have the house picked up and actually clean on a regular basis, and why I could possible find something to vacuum 3 days after the cleaning lady comes.

If an app or spread sheet is going to help this lady get her stuff together, what's the harm in looking for one?

I just spend my time running after my kids and cleaning up their messes. I still have baby wipes in the kitchen even though mine are trained because I love them for messy fingers, small spills on the floor etc. We all take off our shoes (although I don't ask guests to) to cut down on dirt on the carpets and floors. I take a trash bag or plastic grocery bag upstairs most days and empty the trash cans and pick up other "stuff" (magazines etc.) that need to go. Beds get made first thing in the morning - but the kids just have duvet covers (so easy) and we have a top sheet with a down comforter (no blanket to mess with).

I don't allow eating except in the kitchen and family room - or outside! All dishes into the sink - or hopefully the dishwasher (which gets emptied every morning first thing).

A load of laundry every day keeps me from getting behind and having a mountain to wash, dry and fold.

Is my house spotless? Only for 5 minutes after my cleaning ladies leave - but it's neat enough and full of love!

I'm a bit late to this, but flylady.net has a great "system" for keeping the house clean and organized and, importantly, how to get started in the first place! She divides the house into "zones" and each week is dedicated to a different zone, so over the course of a month or so, you gradually and continuously clean the entire house. During the week, you devote 10 or 15 minutes/day to decluttering and actual cleaning activities in that room. And then there are other little tasks she suggests every so often--like cleaning all the doorknobs in the house, or wiping down all the light fixtures--the things you might forget about otherwise. I also like that the website focuses a lot on taking care of and making time for yourself and not obsessing over every little particle of dust. You can get the "to do" lists emailed to you every day, and there's a Big Tent group you can join for additional "support." As far as getting started, for the first few days, the main task is to shine your sink every night before bed b/c it's easy to do, doesn't take much time, and somehow just having a clean sink makes the kitchen feel cleaner, makes you feel as though you've accomplished something cleaning-wise, and just starts to build good habits. It's definitely geared toward making people feel good about just completing a few small tasks and not feeling defeated by the mess/clutter before they even start.

I'll be the first to admit I can be obsessive about my home being clean and in order...in fact I look forward to Thursday because that's my "big" cleaning day. Dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms, deeper clean of kitchen. Laundry is done as needed, along with picking up clutter, trash, recycling, and sometimes more vacuuming or sweeping.

I would feel completely overwhelmed if there was a spreadsheet of all this stuff staring back at me...I keep it all in my head!

I think I'd actually love a spreadsheet - or at least a list I could check off. I think in our plugged in world, especially those in the corporate work world, we live and are judged by checking off our to-do's and accomplishments - why can't we use the same model at home.

I'm a huge fan of Cheryl Mendelson's housekeeping bible "Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House" - and it does have tasks broken down by daily, bi weekly, weekly, monthly and seasonally. It's worth investing in the book. I seriously read it for comfort and find it fascinating - even if I've never actually accomplished the daily and weeklys the same week!

The clean sink idea is great for lots of reasons. I just read in Cook's Illustrated that the sink is the dirtest part of your kitchen. So give it a spritz of cleaner every night and keep the germs at bay!

And I love the fly lady. Don't live in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). Tidy up as you go and you'll never be in over your head. :)

Did anyone even look at the link the OP posted? It involves weekly, monthly and seasonal tasks. It's not a 'how to clean your house on a daily basis' thing. I have a 7 yo flip phone, so apps are not my cup of tea [I have no idea how they even work], but it doesn't sound like she was looking for an app that would tell her how to wipe up her kitchen after dinner.

Actually, the link looks pretty interesting and I think I might print out out and implement. Thanks!

Thanks Alf for actually reading my response. I am also not an app person it's a freakin' list, like a grocery list. Anyone here use those? And some-guy I think you need a day off from your toddlers and all your hard work. You are a pretty sad, angry dude. "I'm not trying to insult"? Um, yeah you were. Just because I need different tools to get a task done, that means I need to be taught basic life skills? Huh? That is laughable. Thanks for adding absolutely nothing to the conversation, as per your usual MO.

I love all these tips! I just had to do a major stressful clean last week, before we had some houseguests, so this post has been very timely for me.

I realy like the idea of doing a little everyday so things never get out of control. I think the spreadheet would be better if it were just a sample week and had a list of things to do everyday. Like for me, Wednesday is now bathroom day and I cleans the toilets, tub, sinks, etc. every Wednesday.

I'm also curious how oftern normal people vacuum and wash their floors. Is once a week enough, or should it be more than that? I find vacuuming so challenging because I usually clean when the kids are asleep and that is one thing that cannot be done with sleeping children.

FAzel - no one said you were terrible. I think all us moms understand how hard it is to keep your house clean with toddlers underfoot. And I did read your post. You did ask for general tips for cleaning. Sorry if I misunderstood what you meant by that.

In response to Trouble - I don't vacuum or wash floors more than once a week - sometimes less. I'm sure some of the "neat freaks" would simply cringe about it - but I simply don't have the time or the energy to do it more than that. It's why we don't wear shoes in the house anymore! I find it hard to vacuum when they are awake because they want to "help". I can do the first floor when they are asleep, but not upstairs. So my upstairs rule - other than no shoes - is also no food upstairs. I should add that it's only for the kids. DH and I still like to share a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie in bed after they have gone to sleep!

Our cleaners wash our kitchen and bathroom floors every other week. Left to my own devicees, I'm not sure when it would be washed!

But vacuumed at least once a week because of the cat hair. And sweeping the floor (or dry mopping) is probably an almost daily thing when you have young kids dropping food, crayons and playdough on the floor every day!

As a "control" group person with no kids, I have hardwood floors and two area rugs (living and dining rooms), and before I had a dog I vacuumed one a week. Our black lab makes it necessary to vac every two or three days; her fur shows very obviously on the light pine...what a mess.

I like my haan floor steamer. Makes short work of the bathroom floors, and I use it on the wood, too, since they're sealed...cleaner than just dusting them and no more effort or time. It takes quick care of paw prints, too. And, no chemicals on the floor. I'd say I use it every two weeks, but it could definitely stand being done once a week mostly due to the pooch.

I go for a run on Saturday mornings and as I am coming home (we miss eachother) the Mr. takes the kids to a play group. The house is empty so I clean the bathroom, wash the kicthen floors, do dishes, tidy, dust, take a shower, turn on laundry and prep lunch. They come home with groceries for the week and kids take a nap so we put griceries away, hoover the house, tidy, he showers, and wa-la, found time each saturday to get in a run, play groups and all the cleaning....it can be done.

Yes, it is a timed calculated morning, yes the naps work out perfectly to make the day go smoothly...as these things change the schedule will change...but you can find the time...

Believe me, after a run I'd like a long shower and to sit and have some tea but then I'd have a messy, dirty house....

In regard to Trouble's question - every two weeks except the hardwoods in my kitchen, downstairs bath and LR. The kitchen just gets disgusting and I blow dry my hair in the downstairs bath so it gets nasty more quickly. The LR is where we spend a lot of time playing on the floor w/the kiddo so I like to keep that cleaner.

My kitchen gets gross too. I tend to walk around with baby wipes and get the little pieces of food and spills up between washings.

And sometimes I beg DH to swiffer it for me. He likes the premoistened pad that goes right on the "broom" part. Does a quick sweep of the floor in 5 minutes and tosses the pad away.

Hang in there. I look at my family room and despair at the condition of the carpet. I steam cleaned it two weeks ago and it's already a mess again. DD manages to get (washable) marker all over it. It comes out with a steam cleaning - but who wants to do that at 9:00pm?

Thanks for the tips on the floors. Yes, I find that to keep things tidy I must vacuum the kitchen at least every other day, and wash the floors once a week. We have all wood floors except a few area rugs here and there and ask visitors to take their shoes off, so everywhere besides the kitchen I think will be okay with a clean every 2 weeks, but vacuum once a week (we have a cat).

I really hope I can stick to keeping up with daily chores. Fazel, are you finding it managable? I am so tired, work full time, and hubby doesn't help much. Sigh...

Freerocks, what a great collaborative effort you and your DH have! I would love it!